West Hamvs.Spurs

Words spoken by Ange Postecoglou in the wake of Tottenham Hotspur's narrow 2-1 success over Luton Town on the Easter weekend, when asked whether the Lilywhites' alarming lack of first-half goals concerned him.

While the Australian's half-time team talks may go down a treat for the Champions League chasers, building up pre-game motivation appears to be a much taller order for the Tottenham boss, whose side have severely lacked first-half punch as spring approaches.

Since Richarlison showed Everton what they were missing at Goodison Park in February, Spurs have endured six straight Premier League first halves without making the net bulge, and they are remarkably yet to score a home goal in the first 45 minutes of a match in the entirety of 2024.

However, out of the six aforementioned affairs with no Tottenham goals to shout about in the first half, five of them have seen Postecoglou's men light the blue-touch paper in the second period, the outlier being their chastening 3-0 loss to London rivals Fulham.

Tottenham develop affinity for fightbacks

Another all-capital clash awaits the men in white on Tuesday evening, when the bright lights of the London Stadium will shine down on Postecoglou's men and West Ham United, who ironically cancelled out a first-half Spurs goal with two second-half strikes in December's 2-1 success.

Four months down the line, and all of Tottenham's last 12 goals in the Premier League have been struck in the second half, while West Ham have registered before the break in each of their last three matches across the top flight and Europa League.

While it should therefore not come as a monumental shock if David Moyes's men draw first blood on Tuesday, and if Tottenham's first-half attacking endeavours prove unsuccessful, no visiting fan should be throwing in the towel early doors.

That is because Tottenham are the current silver medallists in the comeback kings table, accruing an exceptional 22 points from losing positions in the 2023-24 Premier League season - only Liverpool have taken more after falling behind.

Should precedent ring true and Postecoglou's men prevail the hard way on Tuesday, they would set a new club record tally of points from losing positions in a Premier League campaign, and West Ham's abysmal defensive exploits offer significant hope too.

Irons fail to bolt the back door shut

No Hammers fan will need a reminder of the weekend's calamitous collapse against Newcastle United, blowing that 3-1 advantage only to suffer an excruciating 4-3 loss, not long after also letting a one-goal lead slip at home to Aston Villa.

The seven-goal spectacular versus the Magpies also marked the 10th Premier League game in a row that West Ham have conceded, and they are just one shy of reaching the 55 shipped mark, which was their total tally in the entire 2022-23 campaign.

Diving deeper into the shipping statistics, West Ham's 1.8 conceded per game is their second worst on record in a top-flight campaign, only marginally better than their figure of 1.84 from the 2010-11 campaign.

The absence of midfield enforcer Edson Alvarez - serving the second of his two-game ban - removes a layer of the Irons' defensive steel too, while Kalvin Phillips has not inspired confidence in any of his appearances for the club so far.

In contrast, Spurs' scintillating skipper Son Heung-min is already on the 15-goal mark for the season, while Brennan Johnson's game-changing abilities came to the fore during the weekend's encounter with Luton, so West Ham scoring first may simply awaken the Tottenham beast in midweek.